Mubasher: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) ended February’s trade on a large decline, with market capitalization losses amounting to AED 17.63 billion ($4.8 billion).

The general index lost more than 7.2% or 200.4 points and closed at 2,590 points, after closing January at 2,790.42 points.

Market capitalization reached AED 346.88 billion, decreasing by 4.6% on a monthly basis, compared with AED 382.51 billion by the end of last month.

The decline comes after DFM rose for two consecutive months, December 2019 and January 2020, amidst the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) that first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading to other cities in China and other countries around the world.

The number of cases infected with the virus reached 78,497 cases, with deaths reaching 2,744.

Investors are becoming increasingly concerned about the epidemic, especially as a number of cases have been reported in the region, prompting many investors to move toward safe heavens.

As for the performance of DFM sectors, the banks index fell by 6.4%, while real estate ended the month down by 11.7%.

Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD, and Mashreq slid by 5.4%, 8.7%, and 2.3%, in that order.

At the same time, Arabtec and Damac lost 26.2% and 5.6%, respectively, while Deyaar Development and Emaar plunged by 12.7% and 13.4%.

Likewise, the investment sector index lost 3.8%, while commercial services and transportation plunged by 5.7% and 8.5%, respectively.